


Conversations and Promises

by Scrawlers



Series: Conversations With the Devil [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-20 17:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17027028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scrawlers/pseuds/Scrawlers
Summary: Yuugi finally tells Jounouchi about the conversation he had with Hirutani, and Jounouchi takes it about as well as you would expect.





	Conversations and Promises

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a few years ago, but in light of Tumblr being . . . Tumblr, I've decided to archive everything here, just in case.

Ordinarily, it wasn’t difficult at all for Yuugi to talk to Katsuya. It was the opposite, really; there was no one in the world Yuugi found it easier to talk to, whether it was about something silly like a new flash game he had found on the web, or about something more serious like bills they had to pay or something that was going on at work. But over the past few days he had struggled to find a good time to bring up what had happened with Hirutani on his commute home from work. Yuugi tried, he really did; but every time he tried to think of how to broach the subject, the words clung to his throat and refused to get any farther than that. It wasn’t that he thought Katsuya would be angry with  _him_ , but more that he knew Katsuya was bound to be  _upset_ in general no matter how he phrased it. Worse still, Yuugi thought, was the idea that Katsuya would try to  _do_ something about it. The last thing Yuugi wanted was for Hirutani to get anywhere near Katsuya, but if Katsuya went after  _him_  . . .

But there was no avoiding it, all the same. They didn’t keep secrets from each other, for one thing, and for another Hirutani already knew where they lived. If he had already approached Yuugi, who was to say he wouldn’t approach Katsuya? It was better for Katsuya to be prepared for that possibility than not, and they were stronger together than apart. They were a team, and keeping secrets wouldn’t help them function as one. So it was with that thought giving him strength and a deep breath that, on an otherwise peaceful Sunday afternoon, Yuugi said, “Hey, Katsuya . . . we need to talk.”

They were—or at least, they had been (or at least,  _Katsuya_ had been)—relaxing in their living room, on the sofa, Yuugi fiddling with a Rubik’s Megaminx (an anxiety relieving habit that had persisted over the past twenty years), and Katsuya browsing the web on his laptop. But when Yuugi spoke up, Katsuya looked at him for only a second before he sat up from where he had been reclining against the armrest, shut his laptop with a  _snap_ , and set it on the coffee table.

“Okay,” Katsuya said. “Let’s talk.”

There was something about Katsuya’s expression that suggested he had expected this—and perhaps, Yuugi thought, he had. Over the past few days Katsuya had occasionally prodded him, had asked him if everything was okay, if there was anything wrong . . . simple, probing questions that Yuugi hadn’t really had an answer to, because there  _was_ something they had needed to talk about, but he didn’t know how to approach it. Now Katsuya had a serious stare fixed on him, even as he sat with his legs folded on the couch, and Yuugi took another calming breath before he turned himself, and set the Rubik’s Megaminx on the table next to Katsuya’s laptop. 

“Okay,” Yuugi said. He twisted his fingers together, already regretting the decision to set the Rubik’s Megaminx aside. “First—can you promise me you won’t get upset?”

“Sure,” Katsuya said, but his answer was too immediate and despite his otherwise relaxed pose, his shoulders were tense. Yuugi frowned.

“You look like you’re already upset.”

“Well to be honest, Yuugi, you’ve been acting really weird and kinda distant and down for the past couple of days, and the phrase ‘we need to talk’ usually doesn’t lead anywhere good,” Katsuya said. “So I’m sorry if I’m not exactly looking forward to this conversation.”

It only took a second for what Katsuya  _thought_ the conversation was going to be about to click for Yuugi, and the ridiculousness of it almost made him laugh. It might have, even, if the actual conversation topic wasn’t so serious. “What—no, no, it’s nothing like that! It’s nothing you’ve done.”

“‘It’s not you, it’s me,’” Katsuya said, and Yuugi barely resisted the urge to smack a palm against his forehead. “Cool, that’s new.”

“ _No_ , I mean it really isn’t like that. I don’t want to break up or anything. It’s nothing even remotely close to that.”

“Oh. Okay.” It was remarkable, really, how quickly Katsuya’s disposition brightened—how  _relieved_ he looked, and Yuugi wondered if he had actually been worrying about that for the past couple of days. It was yet another reason why, Yuugi thought, keeping secrets never did anyone any good. “Then what’s up?” His brow furrowed, concern overtaking his expression again, and he asked, “You’re not sick or something, are you?”

“No, it’s nothing like that, either,” Yuugi said, and once again Katsuya relaxed. “It’s actually . . . do you remember when I texted you on Thursday and said I was going to be home late because something came up?”

“Yeah. You had a work thing to do, right?”

“Yeah. Well, no. I kind of . . . I kind of just let you think that,” Yuugi said, looking down at the fingers he twisted together in his lap. It was suddenly a lot easier to look there than it was to meet Katsuya’s eyes.

“Okay . . .” Katsuya said slowly. “So . . . what actually happened, then?” Yuugi ran his tongue along his teeth, and something in either his silence or expression must have showed just how  _difficult_ it was for him to drag the words up, because Katsuya’s voice softened and he reached over to squeeze Yuugi’s shoulder. “Hey, come on. I promise I won’t get mad, okay? Whatever it is, you know you can tell me anything.”

“I know I can,” Yuugi said quietly. “I’m just . . . worried.”

“About what?”

Yuugi was quiet for a moment before he said, “You, mostly.” He glanced up to see that Katsuya had furrowed his brow in confusion, not understanding at all what Yuugi was saying, and sighed. “Okay, I—on Thursday, I was on my way home. I decided to walk because the weather was nice and my DS battery had died, so I didn’t feel like taking the bus was worth it.”

“Fair enough.”

“But when I was walking home, I . . .” He took another deep breath in a fruitless attempt to steady himself more than anything, and said as quickly as he could, “I ran into Hirutani.”

His words were met with silence. Yuugi had looked away again to study the pattern etched into the fabric of their sofa, and when he looked up he saw that Katsuya was simply staring at him, his entire body rigid.

“Katsuya?” Yuugi said tentatively.

“Hirutani who?” Katsuya asked, his voice hard. 

Yuugi blinked, and rubbed at the back of his neck with one hand. “Um . . . well, I don’t actually know his given name, but . . . the only Hirutani you know, I think. The one you, ah, went to middle school with, and the one we, um, had those run-ins with during high school . . .”

This explanation, as halting as it was, did nothing to ease the stiff set of Katsuya’s shoulders, or mitigate the anger that made Katsuya’s eyes look so dark they were almost black instead of brown.

“What did he do?” Katsuya demanded, and before Yuugi could answer he followed it with, “Did he hurt you? Because I swear to god I’ll—”

“No! No, no, no, he didn’t hurt me, I’m fine,” Yuugi said, and he couldn’t say that he was surprised that Katsuya was reacting this way, but that was exactly the problem. Of course Katsuya would be worried, of course he would get protective, and if things kept going this way, then— “He just—he just gave me a ride home, that’s all.”

“He  _what_?”

“He gave me a ride home. I ran into him when I was walking home, and he said he wanted to talk about something and offered me a ride, so I—”

“You actually  _got in the car_?” Katsuya’s voice shot up in pitch, his expression incredulous, and now Yuugi could see that he  _was_ shaking as he put his head in his hands. “Yuugi—”

“I wasn’t going to, but he said he wanted to talk about you, and I didn’t know if he had already done something or not, and I didn’t want to take that chance,” Yuugi said. 

“So you  _call me_  and ask!” Katsuya cried, dropping his hands back to his lap. “For godsake, Yuugi, he could’ve done  _anything_ to you, and he  _would_ —”

“But he didn’t, and I’m fine,” Yuugi said. “Nothing bad happened to me, but—”

“Yeah, and thank god for that,” Katsuya said, “but next ti—no, wait, there’s not going to be a next time, because you know what?” Katsuya swung his legs over the side of the couch, striding toward the door as Yuugi’s heart sank into the pit of his stomach. “I’m gonna go set the record straight, once and for all. He’s not getting away with this.”

“No!” Yuugi bounded off the couch, and before Katsuya could so much as put on one shoe, he threw himself in front of the door and stood with his back pressed against it, his arms spread wide. “Don’t. That’s exactly what he wants, I’m sure of it.”

“Oh I know it is,” Katsuya said. “And he’s gonna regret wanting it two minutes after he gets it.”

“ _No_ , you don’t understand,” Yuugi said. “He’s—”

“Trust me, if there’s one thing I understand, it’s that sick son-of-a-bitch,” Katsuya growled. “Now move. I don’t know where he is, but I’m sure I can find out—”

“No,” Yuugi repeated, and Katsuya glared at him. He stared just as solidly right back. “He’s yakuza now, Katsuya.”

“I’m not surprised,” Katsuya said flatly, and  _that_ was enough to surprise Yuugi. “But that’s not gonna stop me from kicking the shit out of him for messing with you.”

“He almost  _killed_  you in high school, and that was when he was just in some stupid gang,” Yuugi said, his voice shaking. “You had to spend two months in the hospital after he nearly electrocuted you to death just for doing something he didn’t want you to, remember?”

“Yeah, and do  _you_ remember how I knocked him off a building  _after_ he threw glass in my eyes a few months after that?”

“Do  _you_  remember that he threw glass in your eyes in the first place? He’s not afraid to cheat—”

“Obviously I remember, or I wouldn’t be able to bring it up!”

“Well you’re acting like you  _don’t_ with the way you want to walk into an obvious trap!”

“Then what do you expect me to do, Yuugi?!” Katsuya exclaimed, and he tossed his hands up in the air. “I can’t let him  _hurt_  you—”

“It’s not  _me_ he wants to hurt, it’s  _you_ , and I can’t let him hurt you either!” Yuugi cried. “So will you please just stop trying to run off into an obvious trap and talk through this calmly with me so that we can come up with a plan for how to deal with it together? Please?”

For a few heartbeats they simply stared at each other, neither of them moving, but those precious few seconds were all it took for Katsuya to relent. The tension left his shoulders in a sigh, and Yuugi practically sagged against the door in relief.

“Okay,” Katsuya said, and he tossed up one hand in acquiescence to punctuate it. “Yeah, okay. We can do that. I’m sorry I got mad. I know I said I wouldn’t.”

“It’s okay. To be honest, I didn’t expect anything different. If I was in your place, I probably would have reacted similarly.”

Katsuya snorted as he turned and headed back toward the couch, Yuugi following suit. “Yeah, well, that’s not a problem because you never made stupid enough choices in your life to end up in a situation like this. Me, on the other hand . . .”

“What Hirutani does isn’t your fault,” Yuugi said, and as Katsuya flopped down on the couch and leaned against the back cushions, Yuugi sat sideways to face him. “We just need to figure out how to deal with it.”

“Yeah. And we will. Together.” Katsuya took Yuugi’s hand in his and gave it a brief squeeze, and Yuugi gave him a grateful smile in return. “So start from the top. You . . . got in the car,” Yuugi didn’t miss the catch in Katsuya’s voice as he said that, “and then what?”

Now that they were both calmer and (for the moment at least) the risk of Katsuya running headfirst into a trap had passed, it was much easier for Yuugi to tell Katsuya what happened. He told him how Hirutani already knew where they lived, how Hirutani didn’t seem able (or willing) to understand why they were together, and the thinly veiled threat the conversation had ended on.

“. . . and that’s it. I don’t know if he’s actually going to try anything else, or if he even really wants to, but like I said, it wasn’t me he was interested in, not really. It was you. He wanted to know all about you.”

Katsuya snorted. “Of course he did. It’s always been about me, ever since goddamn middle school. He doesn’t know the meaning of the words ‘give up.’” Katsuya pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes before he ran one hand through his hair. “Man, you know what was a mistake? That. Middle school. The whole damn thing was a mistake. All of it. Well,” he paused, and then tilted his head as if to concede a point, “maybe not  _all_  of it. Meeting Honda was good, but the rest sucked. Screw middle school.”

“Yeah, it sounds like it,” Yuugi said. His experiences with middle school hadn’t been too bad, but they had been lonely, especially since Anzu had made other friends during that time and so they saw each other much less often. Still, all things considered, Yuugi thought he preferred his middle school experience to what it sounded like Katsuya’s had been like, no matter how lonely it had been. “But anyway, I was wondering what you thought we should do since he knows where we live, and all. I thought about maybe talking to the police—”

“No,” Katsuya said, and Yuugi blinked at how quickly that response came. “His old man was a cop, he has connections with the police. When it comes to something like this the only cop we could trust is Honda, because he’d rather chug a bottle of acid than take a bribe from Hirutani, but this isn’t his division and I don’t want to get him involved, anyway. He had to deal with enough of this bullshit in middle school.”

“Okay,” Yuugi said. “Then what do you have in mind?”

“I . . .” Katsuya took a deep breath and released it, staring at the ceiling. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I’ll figure something out, but I need some time to think about it first.”

“Okay,” Yuugi said again, “but can you promise me something, then?” He waited until Katsuya looked over before he continued, “Promise me you won’t go after him. I know you really want to, and I can understand why, but I’m sure that’s what he wants. I’m pretty sure that’s even what he was counting on, and was probably why he seemed so calm even when I didn’t give him the answers he was looking for. He wants you, Katsuya, and he won’t—he won’t  _ask_ , he never did in high school, did he? With the way he was talking about you, I don’t think he’s changed, or if he has, he’s gotten worse. He’ll hurt you, badly, and I—I really can’t stand the thought of that happening. So promise me you won’t go after him. Please.”

Katsuya had sat up and turned to face Yuugi while he made his case, and when he was done, Katsuya cupped his cheek with one hand before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Yuugi’s. Yuugi kissed him back with a little more force, and maybe a little desperation; the idea, the  _possibility_ of something bad happening to Katsuya was fresh on his mind, and the very thought of it made Yuugi want to hold Katsuya tightly and never let him go.

But Katsuya pulled back, and when he did, it was with a soft smile. “Okay,” he said. “I promise.”

The relief Yuugi felt was powerful enough to push him to follow through on his impulse, and he threw his arms around Katsuya’s neck, pulling him into a tight embrace. Katsuya wrapped his arms around Yuugi, hugging him back just as tightly, his arms strong and protective and warm.

Whatever Hirutani was planning, if anything, didn’t scare Yuugi. Whatever it was, he was sure—as he had always been sure, despite fears caused by Katsuya’s recklessness—that he and Katsuya would get through it together, as a team. No matter what was thrown at them, they would find a way to handle it together, just as they did everything else. And no matter what, Hirutani would never, not  _ever_ get his hands on Katsuya ever again. Of that Yuugi was especially sure as he pressed a gentle kiss against Katsuya’s shoulder. He would personally make sure of it.


End file.
